Country Goths in the Big City (The Klaxon - And Also The Trees)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	The Klaxon - And Also The Trees
Date:	19/01/08 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compellingly miserable with plenty of lighter moments.

Disadvantages: Repetitive sound after a while.

'The Klaxon' stands out in the discography of And Also the Trees for trading in their earlier slightly romantic and idyllic countryside-inspired post-punk for a depiction of urban life that's bleak even for them. A key player in establishing the gothic rock genre in the early eighties, listening to this album can be something of a downbeat chore if you're not in the right mood, but is perfect for rainy days looking out over the urban nightmare and the sleazy businessmen using newspapers for umbrellas, cars making haste through puddles and splashing old men, grumpy young women shouting unreasonable criticisms at their sodden, crying children, and wishing they would all just get lost somewhere and die.

And Also the Trees formed in 1979, and there's a distinct blending of the sixties, seventies and eighties in their music, which seems to take an enormous influence from Ennio Morricone's western scores - especially in Justin Jones' guitar tone and the occasional horns, psychedelic bands like the Doors in particular, and of course the gothic rock movement, Simon Jones' dreary croon sounding like a chronically depressed Jim Morrison from the West Country. If you can't conceive of such a thing, you really should check out one of this band's albums.

'The Klaxon' is forty minutes of predominantly downbeat music, with occasional glimmers of hope and none of the pure dirginess of some goth bands, especially when the twangy Morricone guitars are in full force. Simon Jones' singing style is never melodramatic or ridiculously deep like Andrew Eldritch of the Sisters of Mercy, but occasionally seems a little laughable for sounding out of place in the atmospheric, film-like music, which may be one reason that I tend to prefer the instrumentals 'Jonny Lexington' and 'Bullet Head.' Jones is at his bleakest in 'Sunrise' with brilliant results, making a truly sombre song that beats any of that detached, electronic gothic stuff, and is aided by sparse acoustic strumming, some subtle lead guitar playing a mournful melody in the background, and a cool spoken word section reminiscent of The Fall, if they were more depressive. In complete contrast to this, the other major highlight is the follow-up 'Dialogue' which brightens things up with a lovely, catchy guitar riff and the mood of a chilled siesta, again requiring a stretch of the imagination on your part. I am demanding, aren't I.

The rest of the album is just as solid, but less essential for sounding much the same: songs tend to open with Steven Burrows' bass guitar or a softly rising keyboard strain, and proceed in similar directions once they get going. 'Sickness Divine' is a great opening featuring more orchestration than any other as a nice initiation and transition from the previous album, and there's a particularly loud and positive ending as a rarity when a second guitar joins in above the other, but after this the tone slips into a bleaker mode. 'The Soul Driver' oozes urban depression from its very title (and reminds me of the appropriately titled 'Soul Recruitment' job agency I have to pass on my way into town), and features a stronger presence of horns and other noir elements, and the great 'The Dutchman' harks back to the romantic style a little with a prominent piano. The only song that really failed to make an impression was 'Wooden Leg' simply for lasting too long without any interesting ideas that hadn't been done better elsewhere in the album.

'The Klaxon' is a fantastic offering that should appeal to fans of eighties gothic rock as much as those of nineties acoustic minimalism and seventies psychedelia, and of course anyone who fancies hearing some Morricone-inspired indie rock. It's all rather bleak, but in a thoughtful manner and with a generalised view to avoid being too personal and truly upsetting. If you're looking for something to cry along with, you'll just have to keep looking I'm afraid. I hope that hasn't added to your sorrow, I know you're a little fragile at the moment.

1. Sickness Divine
2. The Soul Driver
3. Jonny Lexington
4. Sunrise
5. Dialogue
6. Wooden Leg
7. The Dutchman
8. Bullet Head
9. The Flatlands

Summary: Post-punk/post-goth/post-psychedelia sort of thing (1993).